Manufacture of linoleum and the like.



APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3 0, 1907.

Patented Fieb. 22, 1919.

Z'SHEETS-SHEET 1.

E. TRAEBER & OOOOOOOOO T.

MANUFACTURE OF LINOLEUBLAND APPLIcATIoN FILED AUG.3 000000 2 SHEETS-fi HHHH 2.

. closed or unremoved pattern-portions are nnrrnn s'rarns ra rnnr orricn.

EWALD 'IRAEBER AND RICHARD HOLTKOTT, OF BADBURG, GERMANY.

MANUFACTURE OF LINOLEUM AND LIKE.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EWALD T RAEBER and hernia) llOLTlCOTT, citizens of Germany, residing at .Badbur Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Mannfacture of Linoleum and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in processes of manufacturing so called through and through linoleum, and the like, and in apparatus employed therein. According to prior methods of manufacturingsuch goods by means of molds or stencils, with the aid of which the differently colored compositions are applied to the fabric backing or foundation, a separate mold must be provided for every color. .The differently colored compositions are applied. in succession. by being fed into a mold, known as a grating, into. which the colored coinposi tions are filled, one after the other, the mold being raised after being fully charged; or the compositions are deposited in unrestrained masses upon the backing. If with the first manner of manufacture only a single grating is employed, the linoleum is turned out extremely slowly, the working is not regular, and a calender for pressing the material cannot be used, since the grating must be stopped until the variously colored compositions are supplied in succession. The cost of the gratings is very considerable, so that if, on the other hand, as many gratings are employed as there are colors to be produced, in order to enable the composition to be more quickly applied, the expenses attending production of the pattern'are greatly increased, depending upon the number of gratings used. With the second-mentioned method of manufacture, where the compositionone color after the other-is loosely distributed. upon the foundation, serious drawbacks result. For the granular mass lying upon the backing fabric without any restraint spreads out over a larger surface than of the mold-figure, so that the various colors mix, producing a. pattern with irregular edges, not extending right down to the backing.

According to our invention, we do not employ a separate mold for each color, but use for all colors a single mold, of which not merely, the perforated parts, but also the utilized for'the application of the composition. For vthisvpurpose the latter parts are Specification of Letters ratent.

Application filed August 30, 1907.

Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

Serial No. 390.812.

furnished with thin, vertical walls, the height of which corresponds to the thickness of layer in which the composition is to be applied. In vproceeding, we prefer first to fill the required composition into the unremoved pattern-portions, and then to cover the mold with the backing fabric, upon which the composition is to be distributed. Hereupon the mold is inverted, and through the perforate pattern-portions of the mold the composition corresponding to the colors of these pattern-figures is now deposited upon the backing. The mold is then raised from the backing, the composition in those portions of the mold which are closed below, also remaining adhering to the backin In carrying out the process either a flat or a cylindrical mold may be used, the advantage of the latter form being that it admits of continuous working. a

The accompanying drawings 1llustrate,by way of example, one form of construction of cylindrical mold apparatus for carrying out our improved process.

Figure l is a vertical section through the main portions of the machine. Fig. 1 is a vertical section. through a' fragment of a modified construction of the machine. Fig. 9. is a perspective view of a portion of the mold. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion. of the mold. shown in Fig. 2. Fig. l is a vertical section through a fragment 'of a second modified construction of the machine.

The backing, (7, upon which the composition to be distributed runs from the roller, 6:, over the roller, 7), to the endless rubber 72 and running over rollers, 0 c 0 This rubber apron presses-the backing upon the round mold i. The latter consists of a plate-metal cylinder, 2?, having spaces u formed therein. As shown in Fig. 2 these spaces surround a rectangular portion 25 of the c linder and said spaces are inclosed by walls in, of sheet metal the height of which corresponds to the thickness the layer of composition is to have. The round mold 2' receives guidance from ast-ationary frame, Z, whose upper part constitutes a table, m, and which carries the guide rollers, 41.. The table, a, and rollers, n,-suppor-t the rotary 'Inold, insure its easy running and prevent its distortion. 1

The rubber apron, h, is furnished with points, h and these act to. keep the backing apron or the like, 72, provided with points,

other and serve at the some time to advance owing to its being engaged by at the same time. presses the useix lnstesd'of the table, m, pleura}, or the like is here provided, running 1 over three rollers 3/, 2f, '1 and. preventing the rouml mold. The letter has no spec driving gear, but is rotated solely by thebacking, gr, being drawn iorwaro by the calender and srl snc-ing the rubber apron, h,

the points it, of the letter, seicl points also carrying the molds around. This method is of greet practical importance for, as is W l ii known, it is extremely difficult to bring the speed of a pressing'celen lcr into. unison with that of the molds, etc, .cbo'v'e the top of the Wells, stationery hopper, c, in wl tors p, execute an oscillating wellrknown manner. In the low; I I, of the frame, Z there are likewise two doctors g. Th composition, c, which is to conr pose the p aern-figurcs, is charged into the hopper, 0, emf}. is filled into the co1ni-- partments, u. by the doctors, p. The perforatetl mulchfigures 21,-, are at in closed below by the table, so; as soon "as the ngiurcs u, ln'wvevcr through advance of the mold, 2'; leave the table. 1%, the.,composition'.o conor of the fore, in

tained in them falls into the into mold-cylinder. The mom, 2,

its further course only carries the compos.i--

tion, '0, in the compartments, 25'. This corrpo'sition in the furthcrpassageof the mold is prevented from riroppiug out by the. hecking, 9, which runs over the rollers 0 end. (2 and accompanies the mold, against which it lies firmly. The elastic rubber-apron, 72 backing g, somewhat into the compartments, 25, whereby the loose inass o, is lightly pressed together and preyented' from shifting "Within the mold-compartments.

When in the course of rotation the mold, 2', has nearly reached its lowest position, the perforated portions, u, will be filled from the interior, 8, of the frame, Z, with com posi tion, 10, 'Which Will be stroked olf at the height of the mold Walls by the doctors g. The rubber apron, h, leaves the bee ing, 9, at the roller, 0 and the hacking coated over its entire surface with the two masses, o, w, according to the pattern, will now -travel on, over the roller, cl, Where it leaves the mold, 2', and then onward over the table 6 to the roller press, f There the composition is compressed in well-known manner and pressed upon the backing. Instead ofa rollcr press being used, the linoleum. can naturally be compressed by flat presses. If it is desired to prevent the composition -11, from entering the compartments, u, at all during filling of the compartments, r, the modification shown in Fig. 4 may he a rotating elevations, 2, corresponding to the perform sees-es time of theiuold; i into which they prolrutle.

[if it more than two-color pattern is to be prohzcecl, this c n l a done by provicliug in the l'mpper, 0 0,, in the interior of tlic chamber. s, of the mold, 2', partitions which are disposed in the direction of travel of lhc mold, in order that the masses of different colors may he nuulcrl from each other. Q1: instead o several colored mosses may he lillcri. in m above and within the mold, i, in succession, by means of a plurality of hoppers, in such manner that those mold-compsrtments into which the particular color .is not to he'fillccl, are covered in welllrnown lam-liner. One such arrangement shown in Fir. In lace of a sin le hopper 0,. two. or more hoppers are located one 0 11ml the othcr "rem left to right. 0 0 0 etc. (in the l) .0111 of hopper, 0 there is s plate, 25 Wl h rcstsupon the molrh a, but olwr s remains in the some place. This plate covers those mold compartments which ere not to-be filled with the color from hopper, 0 that is so say those -c(m'n ;-artments, Z, which are destined to receive the 'colorsvfrom'hopper. 0.. 0 Below the hop per, there is n like plate, 23 which has only to coy- 1? the compartments, 1!, which zu e'to be filled from hopper 0, for the compartments already filled from hopper, 0 will not take up any more composition. being already full. The compartments, 2/, below hoppers, 0 0 do not require to be cowl-ed since they are perforated and the composition which they taken from. 0 and 0 like that from, o. after leaving the table, m, falls down into the space of the frame, Z. The covering members of the plates, 2f muy conveniently be strips which in the direction of rotation of the mold are of the some length as the hoppers, 0 0 0 are brood. The covering in the lower part, 3, may he ellected in precisely fllQSflIDG manner. rcpt that here the number of colors must be limited to two since composition can not be carried over the elrca' filled compartments. as was the case with the hopper, 0 F or at the-top, those particles of composition lying on the surface are those which subsequently constitute the underside of the linoleum, so that particles of another color may be scattered among them Without disturbance of the pattern. But below. the other hand. the upper side of the position is at the some time the face of the linoleum. The arrangement can, however he the reverse, if, (/7 is only employed as euxili fabric sncl .the permanent backing fabric is only run in between mold calenilcnf The new process can becmployed not only in the manufacture of linoleum and similar nieteriels, out also in melrin other articles,

such as Well'coverings, or paper-stuffs,

Oil

- being fixed; In this manner by changing the removable closures of the single cells according to the intended pattern one andthe same mold can be used for the production of a large number of difi'erentpatterns.

Having thus described. our invention, we claim as new 1. The herein described method of manufacturing patterned-linoleum and the like which. consists in supplying a suitable material of one character to all the compartments, of a mold having both bottomed and bottomless compartments and permitting the material to drop through the bottomless compartments, and applying a backing'sheet to andreversing the-,mold, filling the remainin compartments of the; mold with materla of another character, and then removing the material from all of the compartments upon the backing sheet.

2. An apparatus for making patterned linoleum and the like, comprising a mold having bottomed and bottomless compartments, means for supplying material of a certain color or character to all of the compartments of the mold, whereby the bottomed compartments are filled and the material drops through the bottomless compartments, means for applying a backing to the mold, means for inverting the mold, and means for supplying material to the remaining mold compartments. 1

3. In combination, a suitable sup ort or carrier, an endless mold carried thereby having bottomed and bottomless compartments, means for supplying material of one character to all of the compartments of the up-' per portion of the endless mold, said carrier having a space into which the material its movement, a

drops from the bottomless compartments, means for applying a backing sheet to the endless mold alter the bottomed compartments have been filled, and means for filling material of another character into the unfilled compartments upon the backing sheet.

l. In combination a carrier having upper andlower compartments, an endless traveling mold having bottomed and bottomless compartments and adapted to travel around said carrier, said compartments of. the carrier being passed successively by the mold in its movement, a hopper for delivering material to the compartments of the mold. at the top of the carrier, means for applying a flexible backing strip to the endless mold after it leaves said hopper, means for cansing material to be fed from the lower compartment of the carrier, into the unfilled mold compartments against the backing sheet, and means for leading the backing sheet away from applied thereto.

5. In combination acarrier having upper and lower compartments, an endless traveling mold havingbottomed and bottomless compartments and adapted to travel around said carrier, said compartments of the carrier being passed successively by; the mold in hopper for delivering material to the compartments of the mold at the top of the' carrier, means ,for applying a flexible backing strip to the endless mold after it leaves said hopper,an endless device for "holding said backing sheet pressed against the mold during a portion of its travel, means for causing material to be fed from the lower compartment of the carrier, into the unfilled mold compartments against the backing sheet, and means for leading the backing sheet away fromthe'mold with the material appliedthereto. In-testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' EWALD TRAEBER.

RICHARD HOLTKOTT. Witnesses:

Louis VANDORN, M. KNEPPERS.

the mold with the material 

